Research

Economics & Development

Examines the role of institutions, mobile technologies, markets and behavioural change in access to water and sanitation. Research projects investigate approaches to managing water scarcity, water supply and public health, including the use of economic instruments. Researchers analyse how governance regimes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to promote or inhibit improved human development outcomes.

Some current projects

2015-2022
REACH is a global research programme to improve water security for over 5 million poor people in Africa and South Asia. Oxford University is leading a global science-practitioner partnership to generate new evidence on water security and help guide investment and design policies and practices that benefit the poor. REACH is funded by the UK Government Department for International Development.

2015-2019
How can groundwater be sustainably managed for the benefit of the economy and the rural poor? This project is developing a novel Groundwater Risk Management Tool to improve understanding of groundwater risks and help institutions better manage this critical resource. The tool will help institutions understand and make decisions based on the complex interactions and tradeoffs between economic activities, water resource demands and poverty outcomes.

2016-2019
The research seeks to understand how government administrators engage with rural households around infrastructure and development projects such as the World Bank’s Sustainable Livelihoods Project and the Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mega-mine.

2017-2018
The project aims to develop a programme and consortium to enable future research into, and pilot implementation of, agricultural productivity instruments that will allow for a superior allocation of Jordan’s scarce water resources in terms of productivity and growth opportunities. It builds on ‘Delivering Food and Water Security in a Middle East in Flux’ project led by Michael Gilmont.

2016-2017
In Jordan and Palestine, water scarcity and food insecurity are increasingly understood as existential threats to human security and the natural environment. Israel, which shares a similar geography, has managed to increase agricultural production while reducing pressure on water resources through modifications to agricultural composition and practices. This research analyses the scope for Jordan and Palestine to similarly ‘decouple’ trends in economic and population growth from water usage. The project is funded by the British Council Institutional Links Programme, and is a partnership between Oxford University, Ecopeace (Tel Aviv and Bethlehem) and the West Asia North Africa (WANA) Institute (Amman).

2015-2017
Community management of handpumps has been the accepted mode of thinking for rural water supply over three decades in Africa. This research project aims to improve handpump management by insuring payment risks.

2014-2016
This project seeks to determine the repair interval critical for health in the operation, maintenance and repair of handpumps for domestic water supply in rural Africa, using an innovative epidemiological design, triggered by handpump failures. This work will also inform the wider field of understanding the health impacts of unreliable water supplies and the challenges of modelling the health risks faced by rural communities.

2014-2016
EcosHaz is a research and knowledge project developing a framework to assess the costs and benefits of prevention and response to coastal hazards such as flooding, shoreline erosion, storm surges, sea level rise and oil spill accidents.

2013-2016
This project is designing a replicable, sustainable and financially-sound rural water supply model to benefit poor people across rural Africa by transforming water user payment behaviours. ‘Smart handpumps’ deliver automatic and reliable information on handpump use, providing a new model for handpump maintenance services.

2014-2016
This partnership with UNICEF builds on the Oxford team’s work in piloting a new model that ensures improved reliability and sustainability for community handpumps, providing drinking water to the poorest and most marginalised people. Researchers are designing and testing a scalar and replicable model for the sustainable delivery of rural water services, including a pre-payment system that underpins a business model for long-term, local sustainability.

People

Dr Marina Korzenevica-Proud

Dr Ariell Ahearn

Saskia Nowicki

Catherine Fallon Grasham

Ranu Sinha

Safa Fanaian

Rebecca Peters

Daniel Adshead

Dr Adam Webster

Laura Turley

Barnaby Dye

Jesper Svensson

Aman Majid

Dr Dustin Garrick

Steven Rubinyi

Dr Sonia Ferdous Hoque

Dr Paola Ballon

Dr Cathy Baldwin

Kevin Grecksch

Professor Robert Hahn

Nancy Gladstone

Alex Fischer

Ben Caldecott

Dr Atif Ansar

Farah Colchester

Dr Michael Gilmont

Thanti Octavianti

Jacob Katuva

Johanna Koehler

Dr Katrina Charles

Kevin Wheeler

Dr Chris Decker

Dr Edoardo Borgomeo

Professor David Thomas

Dr Alex Money

Professor David Bradley

Michael J Rouse CBE

Shauna Monkman

Dr Laura Rival

Professor Andrew Wilson

Patrick Thomson

Prof Robert Hope

Dr David Johnstone

Professor David Grey

Dr Christine McCulloch

Newsletter

Sign up to our monthly e-newsletter to stay in touch with the latest water research news.